Help:Media

Super Mario Wiki has the ability to upload OGG files (with the extension of .ogv, .oga, or .ogg) for audio and video purposes, in addition to the normal image function.

Wikipedia, and therefore all MediaWiki-software wikis, allow only this type of format because it is royalty-free and an open format, unlike MP4, MP3, and AAC formats. While there is much complexity to the OGG format, Super Mario Wiki will only be using Theora for video and Vorbis for audio.

Contents

Acceptable content

This is copyrighted content. Please use fair use to the best of your ability; this is not a website to host content illegally.

Audio clips

Short audio clips for certain characters are accepted in this wiki, since having a few audio samples is a solid method of illustrating a character's personality and voice. Audio clips can also be used to supplement the quote pages, but it should not be overdone. After all, the wiki is not a database for every sound clip from every game, so make sure the audio clip you want to upload is significant. Random sound effects and short grunts, for instance, are inappropriate unless they are generally well-known. Another good use for audio samples is to illustrate the history of the character's voice. Several characters have received a variety of voice actors during their history, but even characters that have used the same voice actors (such as Waluigi, who is always voiced by Charles Martinet) can benefit from having a variety of audio clips.

Ideally, audio samples should have minimal-to-no background noises. If an audio clip needs to be presented in a way that background audio cannot be eliminated easily, such as special events in Comic Con, where Mario and others talk, these should be in video format and be used as an external link, not as an audio file.

Music clips

Music clips are also acceptable, but it is recommended that they fade out after the song loops once back to an earlier part, rather than end abruptly (see Audacity).

Video clips

Video clips should demonstrate how the game or a particular level works. These can also include cutscenes, trailers for games, and promotional videos licensed by Nintendo. These should not include strategy. This is often an effective way to demonstrate glitches in the Mario games and a better alternative to referencing a YouTube video. It is not recommended you directly convert a YouTube video, however; record yourself trying to recreate the glitch, and be sure to perform appropriate video editing.

There is an alternative to the traditional floating element, which is the {{media table}} template, which, when properly set up, depending on the browser (see table below), will either show the audio or video or prompt the user whether to open or save the file. The template is meant to provide a neat format to present these files.

Browser support

Converters

If the output is OGG, you can change the extension without changing the file contents and without upload errors.

OGG isn't a file you will see for immediate download on most sites, if any. You will need a converter to change your files to this patent-free format so the wiki software can accept it.

Note that some of these converters will output OGG regardless of Theora/Theora+Vorbis (OGV) or Vorbis only (OGA) content. This is fine because changing the extension does not change file contents nor will it cause errors. Ways to change the extension before uploading include (but are not limited to):

If a file with the OGG extension is uploaded anyways, the file can still be moved without errors.

Audacity

Audacity is a stable, popular, open-source audio editing program that can open and export a variety of files, including the OGG Vorbis file. It is the recommended program for any audio conversion since it can convert into any format at any size, for free. There may be some plugins required for encoding several formats, such as for .mp3, and there may be commercial audio-editing programs that can do a similar job (such as GoldWave), but when it comes to audio conversion, Audacity is the recommended choice.

Convertfiles.com

Uploading in progress.

Convertfiles.com provides free online conversion of files from and to most of the file types, including archive, document, presentation, e-book, drawing, image, audio, and video files. The audio files can be converted to Vorbis, which later would be uploaded to the Wiki.

Online-convert.com

Online-convert.com displaying the upload page.

Online-convert.com is another online converter, but has more file types to choose. The audio files can be converted into OGG Vorbis (.oga) on this page, and video files can be converted into OGG Theora-Vorbis (.ogv) on this page. The converter is also limited to 100 Megabytes per file, which is five times lower than Convertfiles.com. To bypass this, try converting the file to .FLV then to .ogg.

External help

Since the functions are an exact copy of Wikipedia's functions, please see Wikipedia's Media Help page for more information. It will tell you how to be able to play .ogg/.oga/.ogv files for audio or video for Windows Media Player, Real Player, QuickTime, Winamp, iTunes, and more.